Politics In Pre-Confederation Canada

Political Parties in the Union of Canada Political parties were a relatively new concept in pre-Confederation Canada. Political parties are formed by people who have similar ideas and goals to represent their interests. Parties developed a platform, which described the changes they wanted to make and how they would achieve their goals. Political parties represented the interests of the French and the English, but other minorities like Aboriginals were not represented.

Louis-Joseph Papineau Parti Rouges Radical party led by former radical and rebel Louis-Joseph Papineau. Representing French-speaking farmers and business people hated the Act of Union and wanted a separate French-Canadian country based on Republican ideals inspired by the United States. They were anti-Catholic Church and wanted to make sure that Church and government were kept separate from each other. Louis-Joseph Papineau

Tories Lost majority power when the Corn Laws were repealed and responsible government was granted in the late 1840s. By the 1850’s they were not the rigid elitists of the old days, had transformed into moderate conservatives happy to work within the system. They were led by Kingston Lawyer John A. Macdonald, who was not part of the old oligarchic Family Compact. He believed that the fate of the two Canadas relied on economic development, and he tried to forge an alliance with reformers from Canada East and West.

Sir Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine Parti Bleus Party of reformers from Canada East formed by LaFontaine in 1841 and were led by George-Etienne Cartier. He was from a business background, and fought for the patriots in the Battle of St. Denis in 1837. He replaced LaFontaine as leader in 1857, and became Prime Minister in 1858. Sir Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine

Parti-Bleu Con.t.: Sir George-Étienne Cartier Cartier wanted to continue political cooperation in a bicultural party of French and English. He was prepared to work with politicians in Canada West to achieve Canada East's goals, as long as English Canada did not threaten their interests. He also wanted to make sure that French Canadians participated in the economic development of the country and were not be left behind.

Parti Bleus Cont.d.: Support of the Catholic Church Not as radical as the Parti Rouge, the Bleus wanted to protect French-Canadian culture and values and had the support of the Catholic Church because they supported the Catholic Church's role in society, especially their involvement in education, health care and social welfare. Most of the party was from the middle-class who wanted to maintain French-Canadian rights, a separate Catholic school system in Canada West.

Clear Grits Originally held radical republican principles such as secret ballots, elected not appointed officials, and more people with the right to vote. The Clear Grits modified their radical past and formed an alliance with George Brown in the mid-1850s. Brown, the editor of the popular Toronto newspaper The Globe, attacked corruption in government, was anti-Catholic and French-Canadian and defended English-Canadian interests. Brown and the Clear Grits represented the rural, agrarian element in Canada West which wanted to open up the Northwest and better relations with the United States. George Brown

Clear Grits Cont.d.: Rep By Pop Brown latched onto a new representation system that promised a way out of political deadlock but also to reduce the impact of the French. "Rep by pop" (representation by population) became his major slogan and cause. Rep. by Pop. is a method by which seats are allocated in the House of Commons in such a way as to vary with population. The higher the population of a province, the larger the number of seats allocated to that province will be. Essentially, it relates to the basic democratic principle of "one person, one vote" and that all votes should count equally.

The Alliance of Parti Bleu and Tories Form the Government Building on the history of French/English political union under Baldwin and LaFontaine the Parti Bleus and the Tories formed an alliance in the early 1850’s. Once in power in 1854 the united parties known as the Liberal-Conservatives carried out long overdue reforms. In Canada West they settled the Clergy Reserves, revenues from the lands were redirected to municipal governments. In Canada East the old seigniorial system was done away with, seigneurs were compensated with cash payments and title to their lands which allowed them to rent their lands or sell them. Robert Baldwin

Confederation Introduced The Macdonald-Cartier government faced incredible instability by 1857. They lacked the strength of numbers in the Assembly to pass any controversial legislation. The Clear Grit majority in Canada West and the bleu majority in Canada East were dividing Canada along racial lines. By the end of the 1850’s no solution to this problem was found.

Federalism In 1858 Alexander Galt, a businessman who held an independent seat in the Assembly proposed a radical idea: the union of all the colonies of British North America. He named this idea “Confederation” and suggested creating a nation that spread from the Atlantic colonies to British Columbia on the Pacific Ocean, including the empty western lands. In this system they would create a system of government called federalism; provincial governments would look over regional concerns and a national government would concern itself with issues important for governing the entire nation. Alexander Galt

The Great Coalition By the early 1860’s Canada faced political deadlock. The new realities of a surging population in Canada West, the need for money to build a new railroad and the attempt to bring the western territories into Canada put pressures on the government that could not be met. No party seemed to be able to govern with a majority. In slightly more than fifteen years, Canada experienced fifteen different ministries and more than half a dozen elections. In the last two weeks of June 1864 an “astonishing agreement” took place. George Brown the Reform leader and the most popular politician in Canada West, Tory leader John A. Macdonald, Alexander Galt the originator of the idea of Confederation and George-Etienne Cartier the bleus leader from Canada East agreed to form a coalition government whose goal it was to seek the Confederation (union) of all the colonies in British North America John A. MacDonald